Jo Watson’s latest book, ‘Drop the Disorder & Do Something‘ is the second in the Drop the Disorde series, and was published by PCCS in the latter part of 2024.
Jo has edited and pulled together a series of chapters either as interviews which she conducted or written by a diverse range of voices of people who are expressing their activism in many different ways. It was beautiful to hear from such a wide variety of people – those with lived experience, and those who are passionate about de-pathologising the behaviours, thoughts and feelings which have been so commonly labelled and classified under the traditional, psychiatric paradigm as ‘diagnosis’ and ‘illness’. But what is really compelling is to discover how active people are in putting the learning from the multiple harmful and sometimes tragic consequences that have followed the biomedical approach to what are more often than not normal reactions to difficult and traumatic experiences.
The chapters are arranged into four parts – Rewriting the narrative, Transforming practice, Art as activism and Activist journeys – but each chapter showed a different side to the multi-faceted approaches to what can be done to shift current culture and practice both in the UK, and I believe it is applicable globally, and certainly in other similar westernised systems of ‘mental health’ care. There are a lot of well-known contributors to this book which emphasises the importance of the work AD4E is doing, and both validates and endorses the AD4E movement which encompasses many events co-founded by Jo Watson and Lucy Johnstone in 2016.
I had to read the book slowly because each chapter gave me food for thought, and I needed time to reflect on the wisdom which each contributor brought to the metaphorical banquet. And ‘Drop the Disorder and Do Something’ is a book which I need to have on my shelf so that I can return to chapters for succinct information and signposts to bolster my own attempts to make a difference.
There is not enough room here to summarise each contribution, but I will highlight a few chapters which were particularly meaningful to me as a reader. But having said that, I am mindful that there is no competition here, no ‘best’ chapter, because actually I was literally spoilt for choice. I was drawn to some of the people who I had not heard from before including the chapter ‘Survival is not a disorder: Resistance, rebellion and revolutionary love’ by Bec Bayliss and Akima Thomas, Jo’s interview with Hari Sewell – ‘I began to realise that the negative experiences of black people were a symptom of the system’. I was also really inspired by Nadine Denneth: ‘How I used the law to fight the NHS and won justice for my dad’ and of course I can’t help but mention ‘We have a failed paradigm and that’s what needs to change’ when Jo chats with Lucy Johnstone and the final chapter ‘Fuck feeling shamed – use that anger to speak out and connect’ when she chats to Jacqui Dillon.
All in all, this is a veritable feast and whether you are able to purchase a copy for yourself or not, I would also recommend requesting that ‘Drop the Disorder and Do Something’ is available in your local library, where it may reach others who have never encountered alternatives to the dominant narrative which continues to be thrust upon those who are unfortunate enough to find themselves caught up in traditional ‘mental health’ services.
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Mad in the UK hosts blogs by a diverse group of writers. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own.